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The
Parade of Sail took the Tall Ships on a tour of the south coast
passing Gosport and the Isle of Wight.
Seven hundred thousand people lined the coast to watch the ships,
led by Type-42 destroyer HMS Exeter, as they sailed up the Solent.
The Red Arrows performed a flypast above Portsmouth Harbour.
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| Hundreds
of thousands watched from the shore |
A further 300,000 had visited the ships since Thursday when they
were berthed in Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth Naval Base and the Royal
Clarence Yard in Gosport - making it Europe's biggest maritime festival
this year.
Each
year the Tall Ships Race gives thousands of young people from across
the world the chance to learn about the unique challenges working
on such vessels brings.
The crews came from countries as far afield as Russia, Italy, Bulgaria
and Belgium.
This year the ships visited Alicante, Malaga, La Coruna, Brest and
Santander before racing the final 600 miles to Portsmouth Harbour.
Have a look through the Tall
Ships photo galleries.
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| Crews
from around the world |
Amongst
the crews were 50 young people from Portsmouth manning the Sail
Training Association's Stavros S Niarchos. They were selected from
over 160 applicants who all wanted to experience the adventure of
a lifetime in sailing the final leg from Santander.
Find out more about the Portsmouth
crew on board Stavros S Niarchos.
Other vessels included one of the oldest ships taking part, the
'Jolie Brise', a 56 ft pilot cutter built in Le Harve in 1913 which
is now based on the Hamble. Amongst the Class A Tall Ships were
the giant Russian vessels Kruzenshtern and Mir.
The overall winner of the race was a Latvian Class C2 vessel called
Spaniel.
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